M-PESA has no doubt had an impact on the lives of many Kenyans in Africa. The service has revolutionized the financial sector enabling financial inclusivity for those who may have been left out with traditional financial institutions and now stands as Africa’s largest Fintech.
M-PESA Africa Managing Director, Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, is one of the key people driving this growth introducing new services such as Fuliza, M-Shwari etc. These services allow M-PESA users to access loans and overdraft facilities right from their mobile phones.
Recognition as A Top Digital Personality
Over the years, M-PESA has grown in numbers and according to the Communication Authority of Kenya’s Statistical report for Q1 of 2021, M-PESA has over 31 million users. With Sitoyo Lopokoiyit being one of the key people driving growth within M-PESA, he has been recognized as 1 of the top 50 digital personalities across the African continent by Jeune Afrique, a Pan-African weekly news magazine.
The recognition puts M-PESA of the same list with other big players in the continent including Econet, Jumia, Paystack, Flutterwave, Fawry, Interswitch and Transsion Holdings.
The magazine used a number of factors to shortlist the key digital personalities and these range from the capacity for innovation through financial strength, the amount of fundraising carried out, leadership and notoriety, primarily by highlighting the events that occurred during the 2020/2021 period.
Sitoyo Lopokoiyit’s Achievements
Last year, Sitoyo Lopokoiyit was appointed to head the joint venture with South Africa’s Vodacom Group that was created to run the M-Pesa platform. Before this appointment, he had been the Chief Office for Financial Services in the company, a position he has held since 2018. He has also held different positions in Safaricom and Vodacom Tanzania.
With COVID-19, M-PESA stood out as one of the key services to be used to pay for products and services. With people being discouraged from making physical contact, M-PESA was the go-to option for most people as it was safe and reliable.
During this same period, Safaricom also waived fees for person-to-person transactions under Ksh 1,000 to discourage physical exchange of currency.
It is during the same period that M-PESA introduced “Pochi La Biashara” to help registered customers who own informal businesses to receive and separate business funds from personal funds on their M-PESA number.
With the achievements under his belt brought to M-PESA, his recognition as a a top personality in the digital space does not come as a surprise. Having him and M-PESA on the same list as some of the other top companies in Africa just shows you the impact M-PESA has had on the continent.
